Odey Asset Management, the hedge fund founded by Crispin Odey in
1991, just happens to have placed a very large bet that Home
Retail Group's shares will fall just last month.

It did so through a process known as short selling.

To "short" a stock, a financial institution borrows a bunch of
shares from someone who owns them. The borrower sells the shares
and then, when the loan is up, they buy the same number of shares
back again in the hope that the price has fallen in the interim
and they've made a profit.

Right now, the opposite is happening for Home Retail Group.
Shares have rocketed over 35% on news of the takeover
approach.Investing.com

8.53% of Home Retail Group
shares are held by short sellers — a very high proportion.

Odey Asset Management, which manages £13.7 billion worth of
assets, is the biggest short, with a 2.13% position in the
company, according to
Short Tracker. The hedge fund began building its position in
early December,
according to The Telegraph, when shares were worth around
£1.06.

Crispin Odey, the hedge fund's founder, told the paper at the
time: "I don’t think their [Argos's] move to online is working –
it really is a working-class brand.”

Today Home Retail Group shares have hit £1.35, leaving Odey
sitting on millions of paper losses on Tuesday. It's not clear
what the term of the short loan are, so the fund may well still
get out alive. But there will doubtless be sweaty palms in
Mayfair today.